the Onda

Of all of the stuff I saw last week at Web 2.0, the most exciting meme was that of the mobile devices in our pockets finally turning into true portable computers. Together, all of these different smartphones are supposed to become a viable platform for innovation— ushering in a new era of social applications that are not only more useful (finally delivering on the whole "augmenting human intellect" thing, but also more ubiquitous and relevant.

Amen to all of that. Except of course that I walked floor and listened to companies big (Nokia) and small (Fizzl, Pizzl, or Dizzl) tell this tale, I kept thinking of the way Steve Jobs talked at D a couple of years ago about how getting to consumers via the phone carriers was like going through "orifices," and that Apple wasn't very good at that.

Fast forward two years. Apple made a deal with the devil and is reaping the profits from it— but the orifices remain. Which is why it is so great to see tech's last great journalist taking an aggressive and thoughtful stance on the issue in his latest blog post, "Free my Phone."

Walt is a real standup guy when it comes to calling it like it is. He is often accused of being too "soft" on the big companies he reviews— but what I've noticed is that when it comes to egregious behavior on the part of companies trying to make profits from consumers, he often pulls no punches.

And the best part: I know first hand that when he writes the folks at Apple listen. Ditto for AT&T, Verizon, Microsoft, and all of the other big companies. A very good thing if last week's utopian vision is ever likely to come to pass here in the US.

Great piece.

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